Swat Analysis for Victoria Station Restaurants
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Victoria Station
Strengths
Concept uniqueness- Concept based restaurants rely on dйcor and novelty themes, which are appealing enough to the customers to draw in business. For example: Hard Rock Cafй, Applebees, Rolling Rock Cafй, or Outback Steakhouse. The Victoria Station utilized the English depot paraphernalia to support the theme; gas lights, a red English telephone booth, and a London taxi.
Quality control- The beef was cut to specifications, used controlled- portion fillets/top sirloin butts, and a computerized checking system to verify that unapproved vendors would be brought to managements attention should any items be purchased off of the approved purveyor list. Appearance, food preparation and service, beverage, atmosphere, equipment, safety, and inventory control were set in detail with complete job descriptions for all managers.
Financial control -detailed reports and daily inventories.
No advertising or paid promotion- they were successful in the beginning with just relying on word of mouth.
Promotions- one of the more profitable promo was the rib promotion.
Weaknesses
Over expansion- Victoria Station went against its own policy bases on building in areas with population of 1million or more. Even with expansion with the hopes of creating more volume, Victoria Station was still unable to cover the fixed-cost percentages. They had roughly 100 restaurants in more than 50 markets. ()
Inflexible concept design- The boxcar, compared to traditional restaurants created high occupancy costs due to its expensive building and the maintenance. It also hindered the liquidation of assets to cover debts.
Limited menu- Did not leave any allowances for customer change, dietary developments, or market swings for beef industry. Poor reaction skills- When V.S. sales started to lessen their reaction was to raise prices which ended up going against the original concept of prime rib at a good price.
Identity crisis- When change was necessary they ended up only to created confusion for their market segment; is it casual, family, fine dining, steak/burger, etc..
Opportunities
Technology- They could have relied on this for more portion control from the beginning. Or for some sort of expansion onto the boxcar itself.
Societal need & Recognition- Victoria Station should have connected themselves to the communities surrounding through assistance or donations. This would have created a longer, positive attitude to V.S.
Population & Dietary changes- There will always be more people in need of food; this is especially so due to mothers working; now dining out and take-away has far proceeded home cooking.
Childrens menu- They left out a very large and important segment, children. If they intended to have a family restaurant they should have a well developed kids menu.
Threats
Competition- They did not take in account the growth of other featured restaurants targeting the same economic theme, such as Red Lobster and Quinns Lighthouse.
Raising beef prices- In the Fiscal year 1981 Victoria Station lost more than 6.3 million, one primary reason was due to the continued rise in beef prices, which raised food cost to 50% (Martin)
Economic and weather decline- 1982, the meal count declined 8.4% compared to the previous year. This time, owing to the poor economy and the unusually harsh winter. (Bernstein)
Change in Public- Victoria Station did not leave room for the swing away from the red meat phase into the more health conscious philosophies today; go bland, skinless chicken breasts.
New minimum wage- Legislation passed a raise in minimum wage, which eventually hurt the margins of the entire industry. (Kochak)
2) When reading the resources and testimonials to the Victoria Station case, I found myself thinking, “God its Barnum & freaking Bailey.” “This